'He's One Shot On My X'

Arm The Flag has released their latest movie! They’ve been working with the one and only Bryan Simon on a Halo music video for his song, 'He’s One Shot On My X." If you like Bryan’s songs, check out the video!

Halo Trilogy - The Complete Original Soundtracks

You'll only have to wrap one box.

The observant people over at HBO noticed that there's a new flavor of the Halo Trilogy Soundtrack being made available this December - just in time for the gift giving season. If you don't already own the full set of five separately released soundtracks, or if you just fancy yourself a "completist," you might want to hit the link below and add this to your wishlist.

The Running Riot's Favorite Files Updated

The good folks over at The Running Riot have picked out some of their favorites from a community pool of Halo 3 screenshots and film clips. They've also opened up submissions for the next round of content. Hit the link below to browse and submit.

Halo3.Junk.ws Favorites Updated

Round Two ready for your inference.

Hopefully Halo3.Junk.ws holds this week. Last time out, we added insult to injury by sending the teeming masses their way in the immediate aftermath of a data center power outage. As their database began to rebuild, we began our assault. Hopefully this week's salvo will be more successful - they really do have a sweet site. Honest.

Tricksy and false, the April Fools' in November map supplied by the gang at Halo3.Junk.ws is of the "funny haha" variety. Something tells me the fine folks at Bungie.net who've been vehemently scrutinizing the Favorites selections have begun to frighten and intimidate those who bask in our spotlight. If you're looking for a map and gametype that puts you on the doubled-up side of the teeter-totter, this contraption fits right into your playground. If you're craving something a bit more serious, next week might be more inline with your expectations. For now, let's take a closer look at "Kaboom!"

Cut 'em some slack please, these folks deal in math, not cartography.

Q. What inspired your creation?

A. This map was made as a “just for laughs” purpose when the administration team played against our community competitive team. Obviously we were going to get stomped if we played fairly so we created a gametype that would give us a bit of leverage. Whenever the Admins get together and play, we usually end up with several accidental betrayals. That was the inspiration behind this gametype. Needless to say, we won that game in under a minute since we didn't bother to explain how to score a point to them. Basically this is a good "April Fools" type map to trick your friends with. All we had to do was to betray each other as fast as we could to secure the cheap win.

Q. How long did it take to create?

A. It was fairly easy to create and didn't take very long at all. It was just a matter of blocking off all of the doorways, positioning the exploding cores so that they would chain react if detonated, setting spawn points inside the bases (with one outside of the barrier so that one unlucky member of the other team would die almost instantly) and placing a single one way teleport inside of red base to teleport anybody foolish enough to go through it to outside of the barrier and to certain death.

Q. What aspect took the longest to get right?

A. Without a doubt it was the spawn points. A lot of time was spent trapping the red team inside their base so the spawn points were critical. Having one of them spawn outside the barrier was strictly for laughs as was the teleport inside their base which also carried them outside of the barrier. The mindset behind it was that they would spend a few moments trying to get out while the blue team was racking up the betrayals and points. We knew that they would figure it out soon enough but that little edge was what we needed to secure the win. As far as they knew, it was a simple Shotgun match on Snowbound. There was a suicide penalty in place so it was important to place plenty of things that explode inside their base so if they dropped a grenade, it would cause a massive explosion and deduct points because of the suicide. Obviously there were none on the blue side.

Q. How could The Forge be improved?

A. Over the past few months, we noticed quite a number of additions to Forge that make it nearly perfect. The only thing that can be thought of is adding/removing shield doors on maps like Snowbound or Epitaph. Obviously, we can save the maps that you have provided (Boundless and Epilogue); however if we wanted to have a shield door put sporadically around the map for whatever reason, it couldn't be done. It is realized though that it may be a programming issue and an addition like this may not be possible in Forge either.

Grifball Winter League '09 Court Available

If you are a grifball fan it would be a brilliant Idea to be up to date with the rules and maps. And don't forget to visit www.grifball.com for information about leagues and tournaments. There are plenty of teams to join and room to make your own team.

Bringing up the Rear

We're talking about Warthogs.

XerxdeeJ over at Tied the Leader penned a brief profiling of the pros and cons of players who man the Warthog turret. There's a little bit of strong language in the examination, so if you're offended by that sort of thing, you should probably steer clear.

"Tail-Gunners come in all shapes and sizes. All armor permutations. All paint colors. In my travels, from Blood Gulch, through Coagulation, and ending up in Valhalla; I have come to know a variety of archetypes into which these friendly combatants fall. To know your Tail-Gunners is to know victory – or defeat! Gather round, fellow pilots, for full disclosure of all Tail-Gunner Profiling is about to be rendered with disturbing honesty..."

Average Joe - SonicJohn

Trailblazing at supersonic speed.

A few weeks back we whipped up a blog entry on The Tyrant's level-by-level SLASO tutorial project. Well, it turns out that one of the pioneers of the process, and the progenitor of the term SLASO itself, posts right here on our own fancy forums. For those not in the know, SLASO is an acronym: Solo Legendary All Skulls On. It's for crazy people.

Angry messages from a bevy of SonicJohn's fans clued us in that we had been derelict in our duty. We left John and his amazing trailblazing out of our coverage. We're sorry. This week, we're making amends by way of a brief interview with the man himself.

Q. What's up SonicJohn? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. Hey there, I’m SonicJohn. I’m 17 years old and live in Dundee, “The City of Discovery,” Scotland. I’ve been involved with the Bungie Community since August 2004. You may remember me as the guy who started “Project L.A.S.O.,” The Mystery of the Gate/The Search For The Ultimate Egg (TUE), and you might have seen me posting around the forum with my “Webcam MVP” title, which I and six others were awarded for winning a Webcam Game.

I’m currently a college student studying “Apprenticeship into Computer Games Development," which sounds fancy, but is basically an introductory course into what game developers will expect out of applicants.

Q. An apprenticeship? That does sound fancy. So what's with the tag, "SonicJohn?"

A: “SonicJohn” is simple really. When I was nine, my family finally got the internet and my parents asked what I wanted to have for a username. My mom suggested that I combine something I loved with my name. I’d grown up on the retro Sonic games—the better ones like Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive, err…Genesis—so my favourite thing at the time was definitely Sonic. Thus, “SonicJohn” was born.

Q. Now that you're all grown up, and no doubt an expert at the Internet, where do you spend the majority of your e-time?

A: Oh I’ve haunted a few forums, but by far it has to be here on Bungie.net in the Septagon. I’d love to throw out thousands of reasons for it, but it’s pretty self-evident once you pop in and look around. It’s the quietest board of the lot, and has topics that are the most relevant to my interests.

Q: And those interests are?

A: I’ve always gamed. Since the age of three, I’ve always been amazed by the music, the artistic design, and the story lines of great games. Those are the only three things about games that really matter to me. I play a lot of games with my dad and little brother. My dad’s important to me being here on Bungie.net.

Q. What was the first Bungie title you and your dad tackled together?

A. Halo: Combat Evolved was the very first Bungie game I had ever come across. Totally clichéd, but that’s to be expected when it is more than certainly one of greatest games for music, art, and storyline. Like I said earlier, my dad was important for me being here on Bungie.net; it was him who introduced me to Halo. Whilst I forgive him for spoiling the appearance of “jumping popcorn” when we were still only on the third level, I really wish I could have had that surprise of encountering the Flood myself.

Q. Fathers often feel compelled to protect their offspring. It's been that way since the Dawn of Time. Fast-forwarding to the modern day, are you surprised by your present level of community involvement?

A. I’m not surprised that people know my name here on Bungie.net, but it’s amazing to see that people know me on other Halo forums. I guess it’s because I put myself out there, and try my best to only do projects that can be appreciated by the masses. TUE, SLASO, Community Carnages, the Bungie Community Podcast , and Custom Campaign are just a few of the projects I’ve created and continue to create for the Community’s benefit.

Q. We're glad to have you aboard. Final thoughts? Wanna recognize some of your peeps?

A. I’d like to make a shout-out to some of my closest friends here in the community. They’re the ones who make me who I am. They’re not in any real order; they’ve all inspired me in some way:
CAVX – my bestest friend, who is also known as my Bnet-Twin. He’s a really creative and interesting individual. Ultimately, he's a pretty cool guy and doesn't afraid of anything. Additionally, one time he accidentally his armpit, it was win.

Cortana 5 – Bright, breezy girl, with her head in the clouds (and loving it). She keeps me sane in knowing that there are individuals out there who are much crazier than I. Interesting trivia: Cortana 5’s mum has hugged Marty O’Donnell and Shishka.

Brand220 – Brandon’s one of the original guys who helped me out with TUE. He writes a lot of really interesting fan-fiction, mostly involving me dying…but not dying, and coming back to die again. It’s pretty confusing actually…WHY DON’T I JUST DIE ALREADY?

MightyDuckK – As mighty as the name implies. Duck was one of my closest amigos during Project LASO; I also continue to use his epic voice for machinima and podcasts. Give him a call if you need a narrator, or announcer, or voice actor. He’s good for all of that.

Well, that’s that really. Thank you anyone who was interested enough to read about me and how I fit in, and of course, thank you Bungie for giving me the opportunity to feature here on the Blog.

For some reason I feel like saying something really intelligent and thought-provoking, but that wouldn’t be like me at all. Catch you all on the forums!

Well, that was verbose. The man has many peeps deserving of shout outs and a talent for excess. We should be thankful.

And there was much, much more SonicJohn wanted to relay, but in the interest in maintaining some level of succinctness, we had to reign him in. If you feel compelled to pick the man's brain, click the discussion link and have at it. Something tells me he'll be more than happy to entertain you. If you've got the guts (and the skills, patience, and wherewithal), why not go ahead and give a SLASO run a try? If you get stuck, I think SonicJohn might be willing to give you some pointers.

The Tyrant Breaks 'The Covenant'

Another level falls to The Tyrant's onslaught.

Over at HBO, The Tyrant has updated his Halo 3 Mythic Walkthrough to include the level, The Covenant. There's two pages of multimedia content here to explore, so if you're looking for a step-by-step framework to complete a "Solo Legendary All Skulls On" run through Halo 3, this is an excellent resource.

Campaign for a Cure

Help find a cure and score a custom pink Elite in the process.

Over the weekend, HawtyMcBloggy wrote about a custom Pink Elite action figure on sale over at Ebay on sale in support of the American Breast Cancer Foundation. If you're a fan of the color pink, or just want to help out an awesome cause, hit the link below and lend your support.

From the blog:

"If you know somebody who hoards pink Halo-themed action figures, please send them my way so I can show them a real 'it’s not pink, it’s lightish red' collection. After you are done doing that, feel free to let them know about this almost adorable Elite that would perfectly complement their already rose-colored medley."

The auction is set to end on November 14th, so if you covet this scaled Covenant facsimile, you have until Friday to get your bidding on.

Tag and Release - 'Brute'

Et tu, Brute?

We can't take credit for the subheading this week. But we can take all the sweet, delicious street cred for scaring up these awesome shots of Jiralhanae in the wild. Okay, some credit is due to the players who took the snaps. And yeah, maybe a little goes to the web team for the All Tags tool. But the rest? All us.

Brutes are curious beasts - a fickle woodland species often found pruning delicious strips of soft, nutritious bark from newly-sprouted saplings. If you should come upon one of these gentle giants in the wild - or better yet, an entire troop - do your very best to remain as quiet and as still as possible. Even the slightest hint of danger may be enough to send them scampering away into the safety of the underbrush.

Observe:

Too late.

My, what big teeth you have!

Alert Level: Orange

We cheated a bit this week. We still used the All Tags search tool to coax our shy quarry out from hiding, but one of the tags was listed under 'Chieftain.' It's okay, we added the tag 'Brute' to help other wildlife aficionados along their way. We're trailblazers. Benevolent too. If you aren't following in the Tag and Release footsteps, don't blame us when your files get lost in the wilderness.

Guilt O' Lantern Winners Announced

"The voting for our Guilt O' Lantern contest wrapped up last night - and the winners are now visible. Congratulations to the winners... and thanks to all the voters! First and second place were solidly taken - but third-place was an EXTREMELY close-fought battle, with the lead changing hands a dozen times in the past few days. The final tally had Jericho's pumpkin taking the slot by just 7 votes. (Interestingly enough, the winning design was popular enough to take second place in last year's competition - different carving, but same base image.) Prizes will go out pretty soon!"

Hard Justice: Episode Four

"It's a quiet day at the department when Bernard shows up for work, except for his driver's test he has scheduled for the afternoon, and Bernard gets suspicious when he finds out that E.R.E.C.T. has been ordered by the governor of Esoteria not to investigate the "suicide case" from the previous day."

Plasma Grenade Patience

Is it really a virtue if it ends with your own demise?

We've seen these before and they always leave us scratching our heads. All that time and effort spent placing, testing, and tweaking dozens of objects only to end up stuck by your own grenade. To help ease the burn, let's check out the video. The first half tracks the player's movement around the map. The second half follows the grenade.

New Company. Veteran Artists. Explosive Theater.

If you live in the Seattle area, or need a really good reason to visit, check out Seattle's New Century Theater Company. The newly-established Company is founded by and comprised of a core group of talented actors and actresses, including the ever illustrious, immensely talented, Jen Taylor. If you just read over that sentence and thought to yourself, "I know you," then your cerebral cortex is in full working order. Yup, that Jen Taylor.

“NCTC was founded by eight well-respected theater professionals who share a deep desire to reestablish our Seattle’s one-time national reputation as a vibrant force of cutting-edge, relevant, professional theater.”

The Company's inaugural main stage production, Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine, opens on November 13th and runs through December 13th. If you fancy yourself a person of impeccable taste and preeminent culture, or if you simply want to lend your support to Seattle and the arts, tickets are on sale now.

Brits on the Run

"In an attempt to restock the London Bridge, PraetoriaGuard's pair 'o' Brits lrd Van Helsing and Crabbo make a run at the level Halo with all the skulls on. All captured in High Definition and synchronized to "Band on the Run" by the Foo Fighters. Grab some Fish 'n' Chips and enjoy!"

This is a somewhat sizable download, but definitely worth a look. If you haven't yet finished the fight (what are you waiting for?) you might not want to click the link below - there are some spoilers contained in this most excellent footage.

Team Flag Double EXP Weekend Live!

All CTF! Bring your friends! Nine of them, if you like!

Starting right now, Team Flag is live as the Double EXP weekend. As the name suggests, Team Flag is a collection of multi flag and single flag games. As the name DOESN'T suggest, the format is 5v5, so the battle will be that much bigger than your usual Flag game.

Team Flag is available from 11am PDT Thursday, November 6th until 2am Monday, November 10th. Heroic and Legendary Map Packs required!

Halo: Creatures Evolved

Halo Infects Spore's Creature Creator

Hawty McBloggy stumbled upon this evolutionary anomaly by way of some pretty ingenious Halo fans.

From the blog:

"Spore, a massive single-player online metaverse video game, allows players to create a unique creature and then control the evolution of its species. Halo fanatics will always find a way to work their favorite character into other customizable video games and Spore is no exception to that. Creation isn’t limited to just characters though as gamers also enjoy remaking various weapons and vehicles using the fairly extensive Spore editors. Prepare to be impressed by what Halo enthusiasts have managed to recreate within the fascinating Spore universe."
Halo Invades Spore